


Harry Potter and the House Elf Liberation Pact

by Kodra



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kodra/pseuds/Kodra
Summary: Hermione Granger is the brightest witch of her age. So why is everyone so confident she's wrong to be concerned over House Elves? This is story a about fluffy teenage romance and social justice. Written for all the Hermiones out there
Relationships: Fleur Delacour/Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I didn't write and do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter was written by a TERF. Still processing my feelings on that one.

Every ounce of Harry Potter was racing. 

His feet were racing to find Hermione. Professor Moody had given him an idea of how he could live to see supper the next day and he needed Hermione’s help to pull it off. 

His mind was racing. This plan is barmy! How am I going to master a charm in a day that I’ve spent a month fumbling through? And even if I can summon my broom, can I really out fly a bloody dragon?

Most importantly, his heart was racing. He’d spent the past three days in a numb haze, as the inevitable doom of the first task drew ever closer. He had no clue what he would do, and the knowledge that if he did nothing he would surely die.

Now you’re only going to likely die The pessimistic voice that had haunted him the past few days reminded him. He snuffed the errant thought out. He had a plan, which meant he might not die, and focusing on that was all that mattered.

He slid into the greenhouse and muttered a quick apology to Professor Sprout as he dashed past her to a startled Hermione Granger.

“I need your help with the first task,” He huffed as he tried to get his breath back.

Her eyes went wide.

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do?” There was a fear behind those brown eyes that he didn’t understand.

“I need to learn how to do the Summoning Charm by the task tomorrow.”

Hermione looked down at her messy station and hurriedly started to clean up. Professor Sprout was hovering nearby, “Nevermind that Ms Granger, I’ll clean up for you. Hurry along now.”

Hermione thanked her professor and hurried to the basin. Sprout leaned over to Harry and whispered. “It was a kindness informing Cedric. I’ll be rooting for you tomorrow.”

In short order, Harry found himself in an unused classroom standing paces away from Hermione. Sweat dripped down his brow as he once again failed to wrench the hefty tome from her hands. Hermione had a look on her face that conveyed her disappointment. “You aren’t concentrating properly. You need to concentrate!”

“I’m trying to! For some reason the image of a dragon eating me keeps popping in my head!” He was frustrated. He’d had a block on learning this spell for months, what made him think he could get it right in a day.

A bell rang out signalling that the next classes would be starting soon. That meant he had Divinations. Well it’d be easy enough to skive off that. He didn’t need his professor to tell him he was likely going to die tomorrow. Before he could say so, Hermione spoke up.

“Oh, I have Arithmancy. I should probably be getting to it then.” 

Harry’s face fell. Hermione was the most brilliant and studious witch at Hogwarts, she traveled through time to ensure perfect attendance. A little dragon fire wouldn’t keep her from her studies. He decided to have a go at it anyway.

“I have Divination, but I was thinking of giving it a miss to keep working on this.”

She spoke back with some heat. “Well I think that you shouldn’t-” She paused, the energy of her rant dissipating from the air as she seemed to study him. “I don’t approve of you skiving off your classes Harry, even ones as useless as Divination.”

He nodded glumly as he started packing up his things. “However, I believe that given the circumstances, perhaps some allowances should be made.” He was dumbfounded. “If you’ll accompany me, I’ll simply tell Professor Vector that I will not be able to attend her class today, and then we can get back to work.”

Harry followed Hermione as she marched out of the room and headed in the direction of the Astronomy tower. He’d never been to the Arithimancy classroom before. He wondered if it was held in the Astronomy tower. “Errr… I don’t think that’s how this works, Hermione. You don’t ask the professor, you just don’t show up.”

“That would be incredibly rude to the professor.”

He struggled to keep up. “Well skiving off isn’t usually the polite thing to do.”

“Well pardon me if I’m not an expert in delinquency, but I think I’ll try my way.”

She veered right into a room and he was about to follow when all eyes fell on him. He self consciously took a step back. Padma Patil, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, Anthony Goldstein, Justin Finch-Fletchey… this was the class for smart people. People like Hermione. Not for folks like him who could only be in awe of their intellect. He pressed himself back against the wall and saw another figure marching down the hallway. Draco Malfoy smirked at him as he held his wand to change his badge to say POTTER STINKS.

“What are you doing here Potter? I thought you would be off getting your affairs in order before tomorrow.” 

“I am preparing for the first task. I don’t need any advice from you.”

“Oh, I’ve been preparing too. Made loads of new buttons. Working on getting the charms to switch over to ‘Potter’s Dead’ once you keel over.” His smirk turned to a nasty leer.

“You really stepped it in this time, seeking glory and fortune in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. You clearly don’t know how deadly it is, and I can’t wait to see it get the better of you.”

Harry had the same line of thought as Draco for the past week, but he steadied himself. He was working on a retort when Hermione stepped out of the room. She ignored the ponce “Well that’s all settled then Harry, let’s go.”

“Where do you think you’re going, Mudblood? Have you forgotten you’ve got Arithmancy?”

Hermione granted Draco a cool expression. “Professor Vector thought that I was far enough ahead to not suffer too greatly by missing a single class. Unlike some of her pupils.”

Malfoy’s expression grew thunderous as Hermione grabbed Harry by the arm and led him away.

Harry whispered as they left. “Did she really say all that?”

Hermione smiled. “No, she just said that helping you prepare was more important than a single class. Now let’s crack on.”

Another hour of gruelling practice passed, and Harry was no closer to mastering the charm. Another failed attempt left Hermione holding her dictionary and looking once again disappointed at him. “You need to concentrate Harry.”

“Can we try with something else?” He huffed. “I think it may just be extra difficult taking books away from you.”

She glared at him. “This isn’t the time for jokes, Harry. This is serious, you don’t have a plan besides this and if you can’t master this by tomorrow.” Her breath hitched, as the reminder of what would happen to him settled over both of them. “Come on, let’s try again.”

“Fine, Accio dictionary.” The dictionary vibrated momentarily, but did not leave Hermione’s grasp. “Are you sure I’ve got the wand motion right? I’m not flicking when I need to be swishing? Or maybe I’m saying it wrong. It’s not ‘Ass-ee-oo’ or ‘Ah-ki-oo’ is it?” He was getting irritated.

Hermione sighed. “Your verbalization and wand work is fine, but this charm is all about visualization and intent. You could probably say ‘Daccio dictionary’ and as long as you had the visualization and intent right it would work. Now try again.”

He had heard this all before. He let out a breath and focused his eyes on the book in her hands. He had his wand at the ready when Hermione interrupted him. “Harry! Stop focusing on my dictionary, you need to concentrate on it.”

Harry closed his eyes and reminded himself that Hermione was doing him a great favour and had even almost done something improper to help him. “Hermione, those are the same bloody things!”

“Language, Harry. You need to visualize it in your mind. You cannot lose focus on the object.”

“You just said I shouldn’t focus. Which is it?”

Hermione froze as if struck. Then took a few steps towards Harry, and he could see an idea forming in her mind. He wasn’t entirely sure what was happening when she reached out and snatched his eyeglasses away from him. The world turned into a mass of poorly defined blobs, and he could see the Hermione blob dancing away from him. “Hey! I need those!”

“If you want them you can just summon them away from me.” Blob Hermione spun away from him as he reached out for what hoped would be his glass. 

“I can’t see without them!”

“Merlin, I imagine not, what is your prescription, Harry? These appear to be a half an inch thick.”

Anger built within his chest “If I can’t see, I can’t cast the charm!”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to say, you don’t need to see something to summon it!”

Harry’s glasses were possibly the one item better than any others. Most waking moments of the day, they were situated comfortably on the arch of his nose, and every time he looked into a mirror he could see them resting on his face. He certainly wanted them back, if only so this childish game could end. He concentrated on those thoughts and brought his wand up and down. “Accio glasses”

The glasses flew with force from Hermione’s hand to his, pulling her bodily into Harry as he tried to catch her from falling to the stones. 

As he caught her, parts of Hermione squished into him.

Then parts of Harry decidedly didn’t.

An instant later the two were standing straight up, several meters apart, backs to each other. Harry could feel his cheeks burning. He took several breaths as he tried to calm down. Seconds passed, and an awkward tension fell over the room. He peeked over his shoulder to see Hermione standing with her back to him, her hair a veritable cloud around her head. Somehow it seemed even bushier than normal. He quickly turned his head back towards the wall.

“Erm.” He tried to say something, anything to get past this awkward moment, but his mouth suddenly felt both dry and hot and it seemed his words were ill-suited to such a climate.

“Yes, well…” Oh good, Hermione had something to say. He waited patiently for her to continue only to realize that her words seemed to be on holiday as well.

Time stopped meaning anything as Harry couldn’t tell if a minute had passed or an hour but all he knew was he was trapped in this awkward prison and he needed to do something, anything to escape it. He saw Hermione’s book bag and an idea popped into his head. It was a stupid idea, but it was the only one he had. He ran forward and scooped it up and dashed out of the classroom. “Catch me if you can!”

“Hey, what are you-” she followed behind him.

“Fair’s fair, y’know. It’s not nice playing keep away.” He looped the bag over his head and took off down the hallways.

“Accio satchel”

Harry fell to the ground as the satchel yanked back on him and flew to Hermione, a box spilling out as it travelled. It popped open and scattered buttons in front of him.

“Oh!” Hermione was scooping up the mess as he got back to his knees. “What was the idea of that.”

Harry didn’t answer as he picked up one of the S.P.E.W. badges that Hermione had made. Suddenly he felt guilty at just how much he’d blown her off. She had put in so much work, and cared so much about this, and he had just ignored her whenever she tried to involve him but here she was missing classes when he needed her. He pinned the badge to his robes. “Harry?”

“What? They’ve got their ruddy badges, I reckon I can have one of my own.”

She clearly wanted to say something as she put her bag back together. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I thought you said this was a silly cause.”

“Well, maybe I did think that, but if the smartest person I know thinks it’s worth looking into, maybe I should listen to her.”

She ducked her head at the praise. “Thank you, Harry”


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the afternoon went much better, with Harry successfully summoning the dictionary from across the room, to summoning it while it was hidden outside the room. They finished up when Harry managed to summon his broom from his room in Gryffindor tower. He rested his chin on it with a smile in his eyes. “Well, I suppose that’s that. I can definitely summon my broom. That was the hard part, now all I have to do is outfly a dragon.”

Hermione looked down at the ground. Perhaps this wasn’t the time for dark humour. “Harry… if it’s too much. If the task is too difficult. If pushing forward would-” She choked on her words. “Please don’t push too far Harry. You can always give up.”

He frowned. “We don’t know what would happen if I did that. I could lose my magic.” He was uncomfortable with how serious this conversation was becoming.

“You would still be alive, even if you lost your magic.”

He grinned, “I’d probably get expelled if I lost my magic.”

“Harry.” Her voice was soft and firm, and this was definitely the wrong time for dark humour.

“I’m not planning on dying tomorrow. Can you please believe in me?”

Hermione smiled and spoke softly. “I’ll always believe in you, Harry.”

Harry smiled as he ducked his head and ran his hands along his firebolt. Hermione always managed to raise his spirits. The moment was interrupted by a gurgling sound coming from Hermione’s stomach. Harry suddenly realized it was quite late. “Dinner! Oh no! We’ve likely missed dinner.” He stood and turned to Hermione. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Hermione looked down and to the side. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to eat less.”

“Why would you want to eat less? I know you’re hungry!”

She raised her chin defiantly. “I was thinking that I would start a hunger strike. In solidarity with the poor house elves.”

A cold chill ran through Harry. “Hermione, isn’t that really dangerous. I heard they did that in Ireland and ten people died.”

Hermione’s defiant stance weakened. “Yes, well. Gandhi used it and it convinced the British to leave India.” She sighed. “Besides, knowing that my food is being made by slaves puts me off my appetite.”

Then Harry had a good idea. “What if I made you something?”

Hermione’s head snapped up. “Make me what?” Her brow creased in confusion.

“Dinner.” He tapped his chin. “Maybe a shepherd's pie? I know you like it, and I know how to make it. This way you get some food not made by house elves, and I get to thank you for helping me with the summoning charm.”

Hermione looked doubtful. “And where are you going to cook shepherd’s pie for me? I thought you didn’t know how to get to the kitchen.”

“I don’t! But I know who does.” He leaned down and rummaged through his bag for the map hidden within. He waggled his eyebrows at her. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” He could see Fred and George huddled together in the Gryffindor dorms. “Mischief Managed. Fred and George are back in the dorms, which is perfect because I’ll need to pick some things up.” He packed his things and stood to head out when he noticed Hermione was biting at her lip nervously. “Come on, it’ll be alright, you won’t need to starve yourself, and while you’re down there you can work on S.P.E.W. stuff with the elves while I make you dinner.”

That seemed to sort her out. “Okay, let’s go.”

Harry and Hermione made their way back to the Gryffindor common room and parted ways so Harry could find Fred and George. They were sitting in a corner of their dorms scribbling away at some parchment. “Oy, what are you lot up to?”

One of them turned to him, while the other hurried to slide the parchment into a briefcase. “Nevermind that Harry, we’ve been expecting you.”

Harry had known the twins long enough to be suspicious. “And why have you been expecting me?”

The other twin stood up from the table. “So we could render our services to you.” Harry eyed him wearily. “You know, so we could help prank Ron. Since he’s been a prat to you.”

Harry shook his head. He hadn’t actually given Ron any thought the whole day. Given how much it had hurt him, and Hermione’s constant efforts to mend their rift, it surprised him to realize he hadn’t stewed on the matter at all. “No, you’ve got it all wrong. I just need your help with how to get into the kitchen.”

The first twin frowned. “What do ya want that for?”

Harry was about to explain his plans to go cook Hermione a meal but for whatever reason, he couldn’t find the words, and he felt a hotness in his cheeks.

“Ah, on a little rendez-vous with someone? Well, it’s a simple matter of taking the stairs from the Great Hall down towards the Hufflepuffs, and looking for the big picture of a fruit basket. Tickle the pear until it laughs, and it’ll turn into a door to the kitchens.”

Harry nodded. “Thanks you two. I’d better be off.”

“No worries, good luck at the task tomorrow!”

“I’m sure you’ll do swell!”

“Not as well as I would’ve.”

“Or me, but I’m sure you’ll get top marks.”

Harry rolled his eyes and ran back to his room. He quickly packed up his potions kit and made his way back to the Common Room where Hermione was waiting for him. She followed behind him as he led her out of the common room. “What’s that you’ve brought?”

“My potions kit.” He held up the worn brown satchel. “Before each summer I make a point of sharpening the knives so they stay sharp. Loads better than the dull edges the Dursley’s keep around.”

“Is that safe? Aren’t those covered in entrails?”

Harry rolled his eyes as he led her through the great hall. “I know how to properly wash my knives. Don’t worry.” He stopped in front of a painting of a fruit basket. “The twins say if you tickle the pear you can get to the kitchens.”

Hermione looked dubious. “Are you sure they aren’t having a laugh at you?”

Harry reached out and tickled the pear. “One way to find out!” A moment later the pear let out a laugh before opening to reveal a large kitchen with nearly a hundred elves working at cleaning the place.

Hermione pushed her way past him, “Oh my, isn’t it awful, Harry?” The elves scurried up to them, eager to help.

Harry was suddenly aware they were somewhat intruding. “Err, I was wondering if I could use a stove to make some dinner. We missed mealtime.”

“Is that Harry Potter?” From the corner, Dobby bounded over, dragging an elf behind him. “It is! Harry Potter, sir, Dobby is hoping to see you again!”

Harry’s eyes widened as he spotted Dobby. “Dobby, what are you doing here? I thought you were a free elf now?”

Dobby nodded his head. “Dobby is, but it is being very hard for a House Elf who is free to be finding work. Especially if Dobby wanting to be paid.” The elves around let out a gasp and deliberately turned away from Dobby. “Dobby went to visit Winky to see if her house needed an elf, but he found out Winky is being freed too!” At this Winky’s trembling expression broke down into outright sobs. “But Dobby decide to find work as a free elf with Winky, and thought that Hogwarts could use more elves. And Professor Dumbledore agreed to take us on! We are starting our first shift!”

Harry blinked. He hadn’t given too much thought to the elf he had rescued over a year ago, and felt somewhat responsible for the hassle he had gone through. “Wow, it sounds like you’ve had a rough go of it. I’m glad you’ve landed on your feet.” Hermione knelt down to try and console Winky. “I was hoping I might use the kitchen to cook something. Would that be okay?”

Dobby hemmed at the request, and a different elf stepped up. “Well sir, we is being more than happy to make whatever you want.”

“Errr, I was actually hoping to do the cooking if that’s alright.” There was an odd tension in the air.

The elf looked confused, but Dobby interjected. “If a student is wanting to use the kitchens, surely that would be okay?”

The elf nodded. “Yes, of course, you two is helping if they need it. Be sure to clean up after they are done.”

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief, and Hermione had managed to work Winky into an even worse state. “Winky, Dobby, could you help me out by fetching a casserole, a skillet and a pot for boiling potatoes?” Winky wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded as she and Dobby sprang off. 

Hermione glared at him. “I thought you were making me dinner so I didn’t have to eat food made by slave labor.” There was a coldness to her voice.

“I’m sorry, I just thought she looked so miserable and thought maybe having a task to do would cheer her up. I didn’t even think…” He closed his eyes. “This is going to be hard, they’re going to want to help so badly.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

He nodded glumly and made his way over to the stove where Dobby and Winky were waiting with his dishes. “Thank you both. Can you point me in the direction of the pantry?” Dobby and Winky took his hands and led him to a door that opened to a magnificent selection of all sorts of fruits, vegetables, meats and cheeses. And then on the floor he spotted a pair of elves that seemed to be fighting over a dish. One scooped out a handful of brown substance and stuffed it in his mouth letting the other claim the now empty dish. He started pulling down some potatoes. “What’s that all about?”

Dobby’s eyes were transfixed. “I heard Hogwarts is being a great place to be an elf, but I did not believe it. Hogwarts elves can be eating what the wizards don’t at dinner.”

Harry paused. “What do you mean by that? You don’t get to have meals of your own?”

Dobby shook his head. “Oh no, most house elves is not getting leftovers. Bad wizard family be making Dobby eat from the lawn clippings.” He gasped and put his hands over his mouth, before starting to bash himself. “Bad, Bad Dobby!” 

Harry dropped his spuds and quickly grabbed Dobby by the shoulders. “Dobby, Dobby please stop that.” Dobby halted immediately. “There, you don’t need to punish yourself anymore. You’re a free elf.”

Dobby nodded slowly. “Thank you, sir.” He quickly helped Harry gather the fallen potatoes.

An idea started forming in Harry’s mind. “So here at Hogwarts, you get what the students and staff don’t eat?” Dobby nodded his head. “Well then, would you help me carry some of the ingredients? I think I need your help with this.”

When they were done, the three were carrying over twenty pounds of ingredients. Hermione gasped as she saw them approach. “What is all this for?”

As they set everything on the workspace. “Thank you Winky, Dobby. Could you two fetch me a few more casseroles, some bowls, and a larger pot for potatoes?” They scampered off. Hermione seemed ready to tear a strip off of him. “Before you say anything, I learned something interesting.” She stepped back, still fuming. “It turns out, house elves at Hogwarts are allowed to eat what the staff and students don’t.” 

Hermione gasped. “That’s terrible! They don’t get their own meals?”

Harry shook his head. “Apparently it’s better than most house elves get. So I thought maybe, if I wanted to Promote Elvish Welfare, I could do that by making a lot of food, and then not eating all of it.” Hermione’s eyes widened. “But I can’t do it on my own. That’s why I’m hoping you’ll let Winky and Dobby help us.” 

Her eyes were glistening, she rubbed at them with her jumper’s sleeve. “Of course Harry, and I’ll help you too.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I was so harsh with you. This bothers me a great deal, but all I can do is fret and you’re doing something. This is brilliant. You’re brilliant.”

He ducked his head, and he could feel his cheeks bursting. There was no greater feeling than having the smartest person you know call you brilliant. “Thanks Hermione. I guess all that studying I’ve done with you means some of your brilliance rubbed off.”

She beamed at the compliment as Dobby and Winky returned. Harry rolled out his kit and pulled out some knives. “Okay, step one, we need to rinse, scrub, and peel the potatoes.”

Hermione pulled her wand out and waved it over the pile of potatoes. “Scourgify.” The dirt and dust on the potatoes blew away. “Desquamare.” Thin strands of potato peel streamed from the pile of potatoes into a heap next to them, leaving behind a large pile of perfectly peeled potatoes. 

Harry’s jaw dropped. Hermione’s eyes danced with glee and her lips were trying to hold back a smug smile. “You are brilliant Hermione.” She beamed at his praise. “Oh, that was supposed to take much longer. We need to get our pot filled with water and on a burner.” 

He turned to the pot when he heard over his shoulder. “Aguamenti.” The pot filled with water. “Incendio.” The burner turned on. 

Harry turned back and there was no hiding the chin raised, cheek wide smug smile on Hermione’s face now. “Absolutely brilliant.” 

He grabbed the jar of salt and started dumping it into the water. He’d never made such a large batch of potatoes before, so he was going to have to experiment. He grabbed a spoon and reached in only to discover the water was already hot. He fetched a spoonful out and quickly blew on it before eating it. There was barely a hint of salt. 

“What are you doing?” Harry turned and Hermione was peering into the pot. 

“Best way to season mashed potatoes is to salt the water you boil them in. I’m not used to magically hot water.” He pulled out another spoon and blew on it. “Here, taste this.” Hermione sampled the water. “See how it tastes like slightly off water? That means it needs some more salt. We want to be able to identify the salty taste in the water.” He poured more salt into the water. The next taste of water had a noticeable hint of salt. “There we go. Now try this.” 

She nodded her head as she sampled the water. “I can taste the salt.”

Harry smiled. “Now we just need to dice the potatoes and boil them up.” 

They stepped back to the workstation, and Hermione was fanning herself with her hand. “It does get hot doesn’t it.”

Harry smirked. Hermione had done all this brilliant magic, and she forgets about the cooling charm? He was about to charm her when she reached down and pulled her Hogwarts jumper up over her head. With it she had slightly pulled her white button down up and a small patch of dark skin appeared at her waist where the hem split. 

The skin was exactly the same as the skin he saw each day, but seeing it disappear beneath her skirt implied that there was more skin hiding beneath the skirt, and the implication that Hermione Granger had more skin beneath her skirt made breathing suddenly quite difficult for Harry Potter.

Mercifully, her hands smoothed the button-down back beneath her skirt, but all that did was pull the rest of the shirt taut around her frame. And while that did have the noticeable effect of displaying how Hermione’s chest was now much more developed than his own, somehow the sight of her collar bone pressing against the thin white fabric was even more eye catching. The way that the bump started from her shoulders, then sloped downwards only to meet somewhere behind her tie was incredibly vexing. The fabric sprang back upwards as Hermione’s finished tucking it back in, and the definition of her collarbone mercifully disappeared. Harry let out the breath he was holding.

Then Hermione reached up and pulled her hair back to tie it up.

The act made sense, her hair was clearly something that would trap heat and get in the way, but pulling it back revealed to him the image of Hermione Granger’s neck in profile, a sight which her large bushy hair usually obscured from him. And somehow the sight of the smooth skin of her neck disappearing beneath her white collar ignited something within him, and he could feel himself reacting to it.

He quickly pressed his legs against the bench he was working at, desperately hoping that he wasn’t being painfully obvious.

“Harry, aren’t you hot? Your face is bright red.” He could hear the concern in her voice.

“Sir, would you be liking a cup of water?” Dobby held out a cup which he quickly grabbed and drank down. It was as if he could feel the cold water quenching a fire that had been building within him. He took a deep breath.

“Thank you Dobby. I guess I hadn’t noticed how hot it was.” He turned away from Hermione and quickly pulled his jumper over his head. Suddenly the very concept of a cooling charm felt like a bit of secret lore he must keep from Hermione. 

His button-down rode up on him, so he smoothed it back down below his trousers. He turned back and saw Hermione watching him with an unreadable expression in her dark brown eyes. Had she seen the way he reacted to her? He quickly moved back to the cutting board to work on chopping up the potatoes, hoping to stave off any further awkward observations.

He focused on the knife, rhythmically slicing the spuds into fourths and then dicing crosswise to get small pieces. He’d sliced his way through a dozen spuds when he noticed Hermione casting the cutting charm repeatedly to finally get through her first. “Errr, would you like a knife for that?” The cutting charm was a brilliant charm, but rather slow when a single potato required a dozen casts. 

She looked at his pile nervously. “I think I’d be more likely to cut myself.” Of course, she probably didn’t spend every day of her childhood cooking meals. 

He tried to supply her with a confident grin. “Well how about I handle the chopping, and you can clean and peel the carrots, onions and garlic.”

She nodded and Harry focused back on the spuds in front of him. A few minutes later, and he had two heaping bowls full of chunked potatoes. He turned his head to see Hermione leaning over and staring intently at his hands. She jumped slightly. “Errr, I was just admiring your…” she trailed off. “Chopping technique? Anyways, why were you doing that thing where you bent your fingers in?”

Harry looked down at his left hand. He’d been doing it for so long he could barely remember the reason. “Oh! Safety. Lead with your knuckles, keep the knife chops low, and you’re less likely to slice something off.” He set his knife aside. “Come on, let’s get these potatoes in.”

After they deposited all of the potatoes into the pot, Harry stepped back to his cutting board. “While I chop the rest of this up, why don’t you brown the meat?”

Hermione looked nervous. “I don’t know how to do that either.”

Harry smiled. “It’s simple enough. Just get the casseroles onto medium heat, and I’ll walk you through it.” He turned back and started chopping up the onion.

He heard Hermione shout over his shoulder. “Alright, the dishes are on, now what?”

“Wait for the dish itself to feel hot, then split the ground lamb up between the four of them.”

He had just finished slicing up the three large onions when he heard the sizzling sound of meat hitting a hot surface. “Okay, that’s done, now what?”

“Add a pinch of salt to each lot of meat.”

“How much is a pinch?”

Harry stepped back to where Hermione was nervously staring at her situation. He picked up the salt jar and quickly sprinkled salt over the meat.

“You didn’t even measure that!”

He laughed and stepped back to his cutting board. “This is cooking, not potions, Hermione. It’s pretty forgiving. Now just stir the meat periodically until it’s browned.”

“How will I know that’s happened?”

“Well, you see how it’s currently pink, just wait until you don’t see anymore pink. Use a wooden spoon to break it into smaller chunks.”

He started mincing a whole bulb's worth of garlic. “Harry, I think something’s wrong. There’s something brown sticking to the dish.”

“That’s fond. It’s good that it’s showing up. How’s the meat looking?”

“It’s not pink anymore!”

He smiled at the excitement in her voice. “Great, now scoop it back out and let it drain off.” He handed her a large towel lined platter, and went back to chopping up some carrots.

He could hear her casting Wingardium Leviosa behind him, and he smiled. She really was brilliant. “Alright Harry. What now?”

He gathered up the onions and garlic he had prepared. “We cook the onion and garlic until it’s translucent.” He portioned each out in the various dishes. “I’ll take over. Thanks for dealing with the lamb.” He started stirring, quickly moving from one dish to another.

“Oh, the fond is getting darker.”

He turned the heat down. “Getting darker is to be expected, but we don’t want it to burn.” He stirred for another minute. “See how the onions don’t have that bright white color to them anymore? That means we’re ready to add our peas and carrots.”

Hermione dashed behind him and returned with the vegetables. She quickly portioned them in. “Merlin, this already smells delicious.”

He smiled. “Now the best way I know to move on from here is when the peas and carrots turn a brighter shade of green and orange.”

“Not very precise is it.”

“Well, this isn’t that precise. I know some things that are a bit more finicky, but it’s hard to really mess up a shepherd’s pie.” He continued stirring. “It’s a shame the elves couldn’t give us a bottle of merlot. That would’ve made this much better.” Hermione bristled slightly. “Not to drink, to deglaze with. As is, we'll have to make do with just stock.” He added hastily. He gave another stir. “See how the peas and carrots are more vibrant.” He grabbed the bottle of beef broth and splashed some in. “Now we just scrape at the fond and add the lamb back in.” He quickly scraped at the bottom of the pan.

Hermione mimicked his actions on the other dishes. She let out a huff as she set the spoon down. “Now what?”

“We need to add in some tomato paste and a couple dashes of worcestershire.” He grabbed the bottle of worcestershire sauce and dabbed in a few healthy shakes, then dolloped a spoonful of tomato paste in. “Let’s add the meat back in, and then let it cook. While that’s happening we’ll deal with the potatoes.”

Ten minutes later, the two had finished topping each casserole with a thick layer of creamy buttery mashed potatoes, and piled all the dishes into the oven. “Well, we should let that bake for about twenty minutes.” He leaned back and let out a sigh. “I don’t think I’ve ever made this much food. Here I wanted to make you a nice dinner to thank you for all your help, and I rope you into helping me anyways.”

Hermione leaned into his shoulder and wrapped her arm around his. It was a very different type of hug than he was used to from Hermione and somehow put him even more off kilter. “You’re brilliant Harry. I had loads of fun learning from you, and you’re a great teacher. And…” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “If all goes well, we’ll have actually done something for these poor elves.”

Harry winced.

Hermione noticed. “Don’t you agree? I mean, the way they’re treated is terrible. I know you said you were doing this because of me, but surely you can see we ought to do something!”

Harry squirmed. “I agree, we should do something.”

Hermione frowned. “Then what was that look for?”

Harry let out a sigh. “When Ron rescued me second year, he made a comment to his mum. He said the Dursley’s treated me like a house elf.” Hermione let out a gasp. Her eyes were wide, tears already threatening to spill out. “Anyways, I reckon I would have liked it if someone had done something for me. So maybe I ought to do something for them.” She had a trembling lower lip. He took a step back. “And this is what I don’t want. This miserable look on your face. I’m not so pathetic that I need your pity.” She recoiled like she had been slapped. He ducked his head and stared at his shoes. He felt terrible. He didn’t mean to attack her when she was only trying to help.

“No. No, I don’t…” she took a deep breath. “Harry, please look at me.” She lifted his chin. “You are the most noble person I know. I promise, I will not pity you. You are too amazing for that.” She no longer had that awful look on her face, and he felt like he could relax. She pulled him into a full body hug, for just a moment, before taking a step back. “And you’re right. I have been pitying the elves, and I shouldn’t.” Her eyes danced. “Don’t think I’m going to let you out of the Society to Promote Elvish Welfare now. You’re too important to it now.”

Harry laughed. “Can we at least change the name to something other than S.P.E.W?”

Hermione smiled. “I’ll think about it.”

The rest of the house elves must have realized something odd was happening as Harry and Hermione set down four massive shepherd’s pie between them. They each dished themselves up a heaping scoop onto their plates and tucked in. Hermione brightened up at the first bite. She put her hand over her mouth so she could politely chew. “Harry, this is amazing!”

The praise made him feel warm inside. “I couldn’t have done it without you. We make a pretty good team.”

“Nonsense, I was just following your instruction.” She took another bite. “I suppose I must’ve done something right for it to all come out this well.”

Harry chuckled. The two ate their meal in silence, and the elves seemed to be slowing their work when in their vicinity, curious as to what was happening. When they finished their portions, there was a large crowd around them. Harry spoke first. “Well, that was delicious. Thank you for joining me for dinner, Hermione.”

Hermione smiled. “Thank you for the meal. It was very memorable.”

The elf that had spoken to them earlier stepped forward. “Are you sure you are being finished? There is plenty more.”

Harry shook his head. “Oh no, I’m quite full.”

Hermione piped in. “Me too, I couldn’t eat another bite.”

The two stepped up, Harry turned to the elf. “Thank you for letting us use your kitchen.”

The two made their way out of the kitchen, leaving the stunned elves behind them. As soon as they exited the threshold, Harry could hear the sound of cutlery and plates, and the din of conversation. It reminded him of the sounds of the great hall during dinner. He turned to see Hermione leaning up against the wall, eyes closed and a wide smile on her face.

Dobby walked out with a plate of food. He looked up at the two. “Dobby always knew, Harry Potter sir is the greatest wizard of all.” He turned to Hermione. “And now Dobby knows Harry’s Grangey is the greatest witch of all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> Well I was hoping to put out shorter chapters more consistently, but this scene became rather packed. I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Thanks again to HHrPie from the HMS Harmony Discord for beta reading this. If you're a big Harry/Hermione fan, maybe check it out!
> 
> Stay safe out there friends

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new story, please leave a review if you have the energy to.
> 
> Special thanks to HHrPie from the HMS Harmony discord server for beta reading this.
> 
> Stay safe out there friends


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